NSA has 'extremely good idea' of how Snowden stole documents

It’s likely too late to stop Edward Snowden from leaking more classified documents, but the National Security Agency’s top technologist says the NSA is almost certain of how the former intelligence contractor accessed a trove of sensitive data.

Speaking to National Public Radio on Wednesday, NSA’s chief
technology officer said that Snowden likely copied over
classified documents from the agency’s internal website where
data was kept for analysts to be able to view and discuss them.

"We have an extremely good idea of exactly what data he got
access to and how exactly he got access to it," the NSA's
Lonny Anderson told NPR.

Snowden, 30, has taken credit for supplying journalists at the
Guardian, Washington Post and other outlets with a cache of
national security documents detailing the vast surveillance
apparatus operated by the United States government. He is wanted
for espionage in the US but has been granted temporary asylum
from Russia.

Copycats beware, though — Anderson added to NPR that updates
within NSA in the months since Snowden began sharing classified
documents with the media will likely prevent any other leakers
from getting away with doing something similar. During Snowden’s
time as a government contractor employed first by Dell, then Booz
Allen Hamilton, analysts in his place could have possibly used
their own electronic devices, like USB drives, to copy data and
bring it outside of the office.

"One thing we have done post-media leaks," Anderson told
NPR, "is lock those down hard, so those are [now] all in
two-person control areas."

As an extra precaution, Anderson added that the NSA is
implementing new systematic tools to keep an eye on every analyst
with access to sensitive information.

"We're going to remove anonymity from our network,"
Anderson said. "If you've got privileged access to our
network, like a systems administrator [has], if you're being
given a privilege that very few people have, you're not going to
do anything alone."

Additionally, Anderson said changes to the NSA’s internal website
have been made in an effort to again make sure even someone with
authorized access can’t abuse the system.

"Someone today could [still] get access to that intranet
[location]," Anderson said, "because it still exists.
Could someone today do what [Snowden] did? No."

Weighing in with NPR, one government official speaking on
condition of anonymity suggested that Snowden’s sensitive
compartmented information clearance and his role as a systems
administrator provided an idea situation for someone to access
the NSA’s intranet and leak information.

"Unfortunately for us," one official told NPR, "if you
had a top secret SCI clearance, you got access to that."

"It's kind of brilliant, if you're him," another official
said. "His job was to do what he did. He wasn't a ghost. He
wasn't that clever. He did his job. He was observed [moving
documents], but it was his job."

The New York Times reported after Snowden’s first leaks were
published that the former contractor supplied journalists with
upwards of 50,000 sensitive documents. Glenn Greenwald, the
Guardian journalist who first broke news of the NSA leaks, said
he thought at least “dozens” of those documents are newsworthy.